Venom
by nataliealex
Summary: Rose and Scorpius never got along. They didn't hate each other. Disliked, maybe. Yelling and arguing and glaring, that was what they did. Scorpius Malfoy was the bane of her existence, the very reason she studied so hard was to beat him in every way possible. In a way, he fuelled her. Nonetheless, he was no good. He was venom.
1. Getting there

As the Hogwarts Express drove on, Rose Weasley rested her head against the window. She was lost in her own head, absent-mindedly drawing circles on her knee with her index finger, a habit she'd had since childhood. But she was, as always, still very aware of her surroundings. Albus Potter, her cousin, to her right, talking loudly to Alice Longbottom, her best friend, and Todd Macmillian across her, trying to turn some miserable frog purple. It was an unusually sunny day, and the group were sitting in a train compartment on the way to their favourite school, Hogwarts. The landscape outside was exquisite, and the sunbeams that came trough the window cast a warm light over Rose, turning her fiery red hair to glistering copper.

"Rose," Albus said suddenly, with that gentle curiosity to his voice.

Rose quickly turned her head, the unruly curls that were sprouting from her head flying everywhere as she did so. Her eyes locked with Albus's, and even though she'd seen his face so many times, she was astounded by how alike his father he was. Sure, James had the hair and the face shape as well, but Albus was the only Potter to inherit Harry's startlingly green eyes.

But while Albus was a miniature Harry, James facial features had a tinge more of aunt Ginny in them. Of course, both of them we're incredibly handsome – but different – young men. Different in the way that when James was mischievous and a bit mad with a good portion of daredevil, Albus was humble, stubborn and righteous (although a big flirt when he wanted). The jet haired brothers both mastered the talent of charming grins and messy hair, which made girls in school to go mental with frustration about the strong attraction they felt towards the Potters. Come to think of it, they had a _lot _of pleasant looking boys at Hogwarts these years. Rose focused on Albus, realizing she'd been daydreaming again. "Sorry, what?" She asked, grinning slightly. "Come on Al, you're boring me here." He grinned back, that lopsided grin that had girls swooning. "What's on your mind?" he asked.

"Uh, nothing," she said, shrugging. "Just came to think of how many cute boys there are in the school." And it was like that with him, she didn't need to hide her thought from Albus, most of the time he already knew them. He wasn't even shocked, he made a mocking grimace at her. "And _girls," _he sighed dreamily. "Honestly, I don't understand how you can only have eyes for guys when all these wonderful girls are skimping around all year." Rose laughed and gave him a light nudge in the ribs. "Girls?" Todd piped up, his interests now peaked. Looking at them he let the frog run free on the seat beside him. His mission of turning it purple had failed horribly, and the poor creature was now a strange blueish and greenish colour. "That's _not_ right," Rose commented and gestured to the frog. "That's animal abuse."

"Oh shut it, no harm came to him." Todd grunted, waving a dismissing hand. Todd was not such a bad looking bloke, actually. Golden blond hair, light blue eyes, a tall muscular body... No, nothing wrong with his looks at all. He had a charming smile as well, and was rather funny in a way. The lack of charisma was, however, not so attractive. He had no personality, he loved quidditch and girls and that's the most there was. He was a charmer without having to try, the looks did it all for him. He liked fooling around and had never really gotten serious with a girl. Rose had more than once scolded him on how he spoke and viewed women. Nonetheless, he had grown into quite an appealing guy. "You were talking about girls?" He urged, the topic clearly a favourite of his. "Heavenly girls," Albus said and smiled, for he was mocking Todd over his obsession with females. "Did you see the Veela sisters on the platform?" Todd asked, his voice distant, as though he was picturing them in his head. "Our _cousins," _Rose reminded, amused. Todd didn't seem to hear her. "Roxanne and Molly, all of your god damn cousins are bloody gorgeous." He said, clutching his hair, like he was utterly distressed over this matter. "What about Rose?" Alice spoke up, tearing her eyes off the book about Herbology in her lap. Her father, Neville Longbottom, was the teacher in the subject, and she was set on getting the best grades in his classes. To make him glad, yes, but mostly so she wouldn't get a punishment at home. Rose had always considered Alice as pretty. Nor beautiful, but pretty. Doe eyed with short dark brown hair and a skiing sloped nose, pale and skinny, shorter than Rose and a generally attractive girl. "Rose?" Todd repeated, aghast, and glanced shyly at the redhead across him. A light pink blush spread over his cheeks. "I- uh.. um," He awkwardly stroked his arm. He refused to look at her, thinking she'd be mad. Rose only laughed out loud, a girlish and cute giggle. Yes, of course it stung that he hadn't counted her in the list of gorgeous cousins, but the way he'd looked so embarrassed and awkward caused a fit of laughter to rise from the pit of her stomach. "_Merlin_, Todd, am I really that hideous?" She joked and lightly kicked his leg. It didn't really matter to her. She knew she didn't look like a Veela, but she also knew that she wasn't completely grotesque.

All of a sudden the train slowed down, and Alice hopped out of her seat. "We've arrived!" she exclaimed and grabbed her wand and her owl. All of us did the same, only I'd gotten a cat, like my mother had when she went to Hogwarts.

Rose sighed with content as she stepped out on the platform. It was her sixth year at Hogwarts, and it had just begun. This year was going to be great, she could feel it. She had a small but wonderful group of friends, and nothing could stop her from getting her grades among the top students again this year. As her father always told her, _Thank god you've inherited your mother's brains. _And thankful she was, for she was just as set on beating _him_ as on her first day. Nothing gave her more pleasure than seeing his stupid – yet quite endearing – grin being twisted into a grimace of annoyance and defeat. This boy was, of course, Scorpius Malfoy. She didn't hate him, not at all, but did she sometimes want to kick him in the groin out of pure annoyance? Yes. Very much so. Her father had told her to beat him at every test, and she had. Since day one. As on cue, she felt someone bumping in to her. "Sorry, my bad-" The boy began to say as he turned. Their eyes locked, and Scorpius's words died in his throat. "Oh." He simply said as it dawned on him who he was facing. Rose looked up at him, and couldn't help but feel a little twist in the gut. He _was _breathtakingly handsome. Neatly combed pale blond hair, although it was now ruffled by the wind, a few strands falling over his forehead. With the acute and angular features and the sharp jawline, matched with high cheekbones and a straight nose he looked somewhat like a marble statue sculpted to perfection. The pale skin helped give that impression, and even though tanned boys made Rose's heart flutter, the ivory complexion of Scorpius Malfoy was inordinately attractive. He was a good head taller than her, and she wasn't that small, so his tall frame always seemed to loom over her whenever they stood face to face. He was muscular, she knew that, but not the robust kind. He was lean, and slender and towering. But it was the eyes that always unnerved her. Steely grey ones, intense and mind fogging. Stormy, and sharp with intelligence. She didn't like standing so close, because she often found herself getting lost in his eyes when he looked at her too intently. And even though he annoyed her to her very core, she had to admit she'd developed a bit of a schoolgirl crush on him. He was never genuinely _mean _to her, he just knew how to argue and to press her button. Every single one of them. Of course, the disdain she felt towards him was stronger than this insignificant crush. She could never imagine being anything more with him than this strange frenemy (leaning more towards enemy) relationship they had going on.

"Rose." He said curtly, merely a recognition of her existence.

"Scorpius." She responded with the same blunt tone.

He wrapped the black coat around him tighter. The green Slytherin scarf went well with.. well, with _him. _Green made his eyes seem even more grey. He sidestepped her and walked away, leaving a whiff of cologne after him. It smelt, without exaggerating, completely _wondrous, _and made her feel a little light headed. After she knew he'd put a bit of distance between them, she whipped her head back, glaring after him. At the very same second, Scorpius did the same, turning hi head shooting her a daggering glare. As this was quite an amusing encounter between the two, they both flashed a grin at each other. His smile was thoroughly dazzling, and she could only hope she looked as pretty.

In a second, the smiles disappeared. He pressed his lips together, turning his face to a stone mask. Rose responded with narrowing her eyes and pursing her lips. Then they turned away from each other, and Rose had to restrain herself from smiling again, the giddy feeling in her stomach making her warm all over. For now, she could imagine being friends with the git. But she knew that as soon as they were back in the classrooms, shouting at each other and making a ludicrous scene, none of them willing to yield, she would be back on the murderous thoughts. Scorpius Malfoy was the bane of her existence, the very reason she studied so hard. In a way, he kind of fuelled her. Nonetheless, he was no good. _He was venom. _

"Rose!" Alice shouted, already on her way to the carriages "What're you doing? Come _on." _She groaned. Albus and Todd stood beside her, along with others and a few of their cousins. Rose shook her head, swatting away thought of Scorpius like multiple annoying flies, and hurried over to her friends. Together, they headed towards the Thestral driven carriages, towards a new year at Hogwarts.


	2. Your Fragrance

Rose looked around the great Hall. She looked at the many people scurrying around in their robes, wrapped in scarves that resembled their house, shielding them from the chilly September winds. Rose was seated next to Alice at the Ravenclaw table. They had to almost shout at each other to be able to converse, for the consistent chattering from the other students around them was loud and whiny. The sorting ceremony had already been done, and Ravenclaw had warmly welcomed a dozen of small first years. The food was served and everyone was in an explicitly good modd. Rose was partly listening to Alice's blabbering about quidditch try outs, partly thinking about the odd exchange of civility between herself and Scorpius. He had looked so handsome, smiling at her, and she had been torn between wanting to slap that smile off his face or laugh at the preposterous oddness of it all. She didn't even think about it, but suddenly her eyes had slid away from the empty plate before her to the blond, steely eyed boy at the other table. Scorpius had noticeably tried to flatten his hair on his head, with no success. It remained handsomely messy. Apart from the hair, he was an exact replica of his father, Draco Malfoy. All sharp pleasant looking angles and piercing grey eyes. Even sitting down, his tall body seemed to tower over his friends. She quickly averted her eyes from him, suddenly scared someone had noticed her staring. For Rose Weasley was no flirt, she didn't waste her time on boys much, and to be caught ogling at Scorpius Malfoy would be a scandal. A terrible fate for her reputation of fighting an ongoing war against this boy, this boy who was unlike any other. He wasn't afraid to fight her, to argue and to show off his brains. He wasn't afraid to snap at her, or embarrass her. When it came to the heat of an argument, he was livid and savage, he didn't care if she was a _girl_, and that was part of the reason to why she respected him. Well, it also made her resent him deeply, and she would be just as savage to him when he got on her nerves. All of the good looks, the shared grins and acts of politeness would be wiped out and she would be on the verge of attacking him in the middle of class. The memories of the hectic arguments between the two washed over her, the insults and the triumph on his face when he'd won one, and she almost broke the spoon in her hand out of fury. How could she have smiled at him today? Honestly, he was a rotten bastard who thought he knew it all. Who acted all humble and nice to people when he wanted. It was a gruesome way of winning power. She snarled and let go off the spoon, letting it clatter down on the table. She could feel her heart thumping in her chest, racing, because of the rage she felt. "Scoripus Malfoy is a real jerk." She sneered out lous, and threw a hateful glare his way. Alice stopped mid-sentence, and pursed her lips. "You haven't heard a word, have you?" she asked and glared at Rose. She didn't wait for an answer. "Daydreaming about Scorpius Malfoy, that's what you do _all day_. You fancying him is becoming a little obvious, the enemy act isn't really a great cover for it any more. Everyone talks about the sexual tension between you two, have you noticed?" she asked innocently. This is what Alice did best. She would ramble out a long sentence that would have you gaping – completely flabbergasted – at her. "Where have you heard that complete _nonsense?" _Rose spluttered, her face flushing. Sexual tension? Between her and Scorpius? She didn't know what to make of her emotional response to that, she just wanted to shove Alice's face into the chocolate pudding on her plate. "Nowhere. It's just what everyone secretly thinks, really." She grinned at her, and when Rose's face turned into a grimace of anger, she simply poked her tongue out and went back to eating her pudding. Rose sighed, exasperated, and continued eating. She looked around the great Hall, as she did before, but this time she looked at the ceiling. Her mother had told her that it was enchanted to look like a real night sky. Then her eyes drifted to the floating candles by the professors, to the professors themselves. She was tired, inaudibly exhausted, for some reason. And now, all she wanted was to go to sleep. She had a feeling she would have to put up with Alice's taunting about Scorpius for the whole year, and that did not exactly make her happy. When the meal was finally over, the prefects showed the first years to diverse common rooms, and Rose slowly trudged up the many stairs, making her way to the Ravenclaw one. She figured Alice was still a bit mad at her for not listening earlier, and that must've been why her friend had left her to walk alone. Alice was sensitive like that. As Rose sleepily massaged her forehead, she heard someone yell her name from behind. She yelped, shocked by the loud shout in the quiet hall. When she turned, she was met by Albus and Todd and James, Albus's older brother. He was one year older than Rose, and was briefly explained as a smirking, mischievous git who was up to no good. As for right now, he had that quite endearing smirk plastered across his face, staring at her. "Rosie, what are you doing here all alone?" He asked innocently. Rose narrowed her eyes at him, for she had always loathed the way he spoke to her as though she was a child. She was also a bit stunned by how he looked. With the hair messier than usual, he could be an exact copy of the earlier James Potter, who her uncle Harry was a copy of, who her cousin Albus was a copy off... She shook her head, dismissing the confusing thoughts. James _did _actually look a bit different from Albus and Harry, his face was more round, his chin more pointy, his eyes light brown instead of green, brown like aunt Ginny's. "Hello, James. I'm on my way to my common room, I'd be grateful if you'd all stay out of my way." Normally, she would've been curious to find out what they were up to at this late hour, but now she was so tired she could barely stand. Albus grinned, James smirked, Todd looked mildly offended. "Hey, now, Rose, tone it down. We were just-" Footsteps were heard, and James stopped talking. He whirled around, just in time to see Evelyn Ancrum walk in, glaring at all of them. Oh, _no. _A prefect. More specifically, a Ravenclaw prefect. Rose turned to the boys, hoping one of them would blurt out a valid excuse. But they didn't react. James looked nonchalant, like he didn't really care, Todd looked kind of anxious, and James.. James wasn't being himself. It was as though all the cockiness had been sucked out, and he was staring – with his mouth slightly open and ghostly pale – at Jenny, gracefully striding towards them. She was pretty, strawberry blonde hair and large deep green eyes. Her skin was ivory and freckle-free, and she was frowning disapprovingly at her. "Rose?" She asked, clearly shocked to see her, of all people, alone with the boys beside her. "What are you doing out this late?" She asked, and the question was directed to all of them. Everyone looked to James, who seemed to be suffocating. It took him a moment to realize that he had been chosen to answer for the group. "I'm.. I- what? Oh, uh.." he stuttered, not acting like himself at all. One hand on his Gryffindor tie, awkwardly fumbling with it, the other shoved in his pocket. His face was flushed, an odd thing if you knew James. Rose looked at James, to Evelyn, to James.. and she made the connection. Smirking, she cleared her throat. "Ahem, Todd, Albus and I are discussing an important matter about..." She nervously looked around, running out of ideas. "About...Ah! A ball that will be held this semester." She quickly said, as she had spotted a painting of a woman in a ball gown. "A.. ball?" Evelyn asked, sceptical. Rose eagerly nodded. "Yes. Professor McGonagall told us to do it tonight, but James is just disturbing." She shot him a glare, and he shot her a confused glare back. "Could you walk him back to his common room?" Rose asked and smiled sweetly, as though that would be great favour. Evelyn frowned "Surely, James can find his way..."

"Oh, but can you please?" Rose begged. "He'll just come back otherwise." A moment of silence passed. Evelyn was eyeing them all, probably not believing Rose's lies for a second. But Evelyn must've sensed that something strange was going on, so she went with it anyway. "Very well," She said and straightened up, her curls falling over her back. "James?" She nodded towards the hall to the right, a friendly smile playing on her lips. James was frozen in place, blushing and breathing hard and looking extremely uncomfortable. "Go on, then." Rose huffed and pushed him forward. His body seemed to work again, and suddenly he was walking towards Evelyn. "Hi, Evelyn." He squeaked, obviously terrified of the situation. Evelyn snorted, smiling amusedly at him "You _can _call me Lyn, we don't have to be so formal all of a sudden." James let out a shaky laugh, and their conversation got lower and lower as they walked away. All of the three remaining stared after them. "I can't believe it. Evelyn Ancrum, the first girl to ever put a leach on James Potter." Albus said, stunned. Rose was giggling, still staring at the hall where the pair had disappeared. "You're making him sound like some sort of untameable animal," Todd said, but he was grinning as well. "I suppose that's kind of true, though." he finished, causing Rose to giggle even more. "That was _brilliant, _Rose!" Albus exclaimed and beamed at her, proud of her lying. "It was." Todd agreed. "I am always brilliant," She said, blinking, realizing again how tired she was. She yawned, covering her mouth. "I really have to get some sleep. I'll you in the morn?" The two boys nodded, and parted from her. Rose quietly crept into the common room. Everyone had gone to sleep early, to prepare for the first school day. Soon she was tucked in bed, and fast asleep.

"_Unacceptable!" _Professor McGonagall shrieked, glaring at the late students who sleepily stumbled into the classroom. Their eyes red and their faces sullen with evident annoyance of being up so early after a long summer break. Rose was sitting at the front of the class, next to Alice, who was glaring at the messy bun of hair Rose had managed to look quite decent. It was at the back of her head, but the unruly curls fought her many headbands and still sprouted out at some places. "Why must you always wear you hair like that during school time?" she asked, pouting slightly. "I would _kill _for curls like those, and you go ahead and hide them!"

Rose really didn't understand how Alice could find her curls so appealing. They were so awfully _messy, _it was impossible to do anything nice with it. That's why she kept it fairly short, so that she could wear it in a bun. "Because it's just easier, all right?" She couldn't remember how many times she'd explained it to Alice. She just wouldn't listen, always insisting on growing it out. Then Professor McGonagall began speaking, and Rose's attention was turned to her. Professor McGonagall was an old lady, with with black hair always tied in a tight bun at the back of her head. She was dreadfully strict, but a good teacher. She had been a teacher when her parents went to Hogwarts as well, teaching Transfiguration. It was Rose's favourite subject. "Welcome back, students!" She said, her tone making everyone listen intently."I'm expecting nothing less than your full dedication for the rest of the year, as always." She sternly peered at the class before her, looking at them all through dark lashes. "We'll start with some questions to relive the last semester. Someone explain the difference between Transfiguration and Animagus transformation. " It was a basic question, surprisingly easy. Rose's hand shot up immediately, faster than the many other hands. McGonagall gestured to her, a smile tugging at her lips, but not quite showing. She had told Rose before of how much she reminded her of her mother. "Well, an Animagus can transform into an animal whenever they will, without a wand or an incantation. While Animagus transformation is an ability, Transfiguration requires spells." Professor McGonagall nodded approvingly, but was interrupted by a dark voice a little bit behind Rose. "You forgot the part where an Animagus still thinks as a human," Rose whipped her head back, glaring. Scorpius Malfoy sat leaned forward, hands clasped on the wooden table before him, looking at the Professor. "I was going to get to that part, Scorpius." Rose snapped, and lied. She really hadn't even thought of it. "My apologies, you sounded quite finished." He said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. He knew she had indeed been done talking.

"Well I wasn't," Rose turned back to the Professor McGonagall, raking her brain for more facts about Animagus transformation and Transfiguration. "While an Animagus still _thinks _as a human, their feelings are much less complex in their animal form." She proclaimed proudly. Scorpius cleared his throat, and Rose turned back to face him again. This time he looked straight at her, his steely eyes sharp with intelligence. Sometimes she wondered why he hadn't been sorted into Ravenclaw...

"An Animagus can also communicate with normal animals." He stated. Rose narrowed her eyes, annoyed that she hadn't said it first.

"Very good, both of you!" McGonagall praised. "Ten points to Ravenclaw and Slytherin." Whispered cheers of joy was heard from fellow Slythering and Ravenclaw students in the classroom. But Rose and Scorpius still hadn't broken eye contact. But he didn't seem to glare at her, like she did to him, he just seemed a bit dazed. After a second or two, he shook his head and looked past her, to McGonagall. The class continued normally, although there was this tension in the air between herself and Scorpius, and she was sure it was going to stay for the rest of the semester.

Walking out of class, she realized she was going to have to pass him on her way. It took him an inhumanly long amount of time to get his books in his bag, all his friends had already left, waiting for him outside the room. She tried to walk as far away from him as possible, still seething from their aggressive encounter. But somehow, with the mob of students all trying to get out, she was pressed against his chest. At first, her nostrils were filled with a heavenly scent of peppermint and a mix of musky wood and lavender. She didn't know how the fragrances went together so well, but they did. Then she looked up, and was met by those grey eyes, and almost screeched with the initial shock of being pressed up against her so called nemesis. Her so called nemesis who smelled so marvellously _good. _The close body contact only lasted for seconds, and then he was gone, walking away with long strides. He was gone, his body wasn't close, but the scent stayed with her all day. It annoyed the bloody life out of her, how his cologne clung to her clothes now, reminding her of his quick tongue and how he smelt. What Rose had been too stunned to notice, was how Scorpius had been looking at her for a little while longer than one normally should, astonished by how petite she was, wondering if she consciously made herself smell like fresh roses to match her name.


	3. Notes

Rose sat in Potions class, vaguely aware of what her professor was saying. She rarely sat like this, deep in thought, in the middle of class. She was always alert, but now, she sat leaning against her hand, her mind wandering away from the class, gazing into the air. She had had the most surreal experience this morning; Todd had stumbled out of an empty classroom, face flushed, eyes wide, hair a golden mess.

When he'd spotted her, his eyes had gone impossibly wider, and he'd stuttered out a

"R-Rose! Morning, uh.." and then he'd scurried away like a missile, his hurried footsteps echoing through the halls. Rose had frowned, baffled by his strange behaviour. Why had he not stopped and walked her to class, or spoken a bit more? Why had he looked so flustered? She was on her way to open the door when she had stopped, her hand hanging just above the doorknob. Realization struck her, slowly, as she put the pieces together.

A _girl, _a voice in her mind whispered. Of course, Todd had the company of a girl in there. Grinning, she turned on her heel and began walking away. When, suddenly, the door had burst open and someone else had run out, too fast for her to see who it was. It was a tall girl for sure, dark brown hair with a pixie cut, and Hufflepuff robes. The girl was a blur of black and yellow and then she was gone. Rose had restrained herself from looking after her, and instead she had turned around and sped walked to class. Now she sat in class, biting her lip in frustration, for she couldn't figure out who Todd was fooling around with now. Of course, it was none of her business, but she was awfully curious. Just as she and Albus hadn't stopped bothering poor James about his crush Evelyn. It seemed like, this year, everyone was smitten and in love. She wondered, no, _yearned _for the day she would find a boy worthy of her affection. Her mind drifted off to the Todd incident this morning, fractiously trying to piece two and two together...

Scorpius tightened his fist in annoyance. For the third time today, he had caught himself glancing over at Rose. She was not paying attention, gazing into the air like a daft idiot. He had never been so annoyed in his life. How was he supposed to excel at the subject without the satisfaction that she heard it? He was still brilliant, but without her invaluable reaction it was just no fun. He studied her profile intently. The sun shining through the window turned her unruly curls into more of a coppery colour. He let his eyes wander over the skiing slope nose of hers, the freckles dotting her nose and cheeks, somehow causing her skin to look even more porcelain. And finally, her eyes; insistently blue. Like sapphires. He would catch himself thinking of them sometimes, like one would think of looking into the sea. He grunted as he realized that he hadn't been attention either. Suddenly, he felt a nudge in the ribs. Turning his head, he was met by Zacharias green, gentle eyes, curiously eyeing Scorpius. "What're you looking at?" his friend asked, his eyes filled with mischievous suspicion. Scorpius blinked "What?" he said, trying to sound clueless. It worked.

Zach's eyes narrowed, and Scorpius warily eyed the other boy back. People often marvelled over how they were contrasts to each other. While Scorpius was all whiteness and pale blond hair, Zach had dark skin and jet black hair, his African features admittedly handsome. One of the more notable attributes he had was his green eyes. Dark and mysterious like a forest. Zach grinned at him, showing off a row of white teeth. The wrinkles that appeared by his eyes was a favourite of the girls in the school. "Am I going insane," He teased and glanced behind Scorpius "Or were you staring at Rose Weasley?"

"You are most certainly going insane." Scorpius snorted, not looking at his friend. He knew all too well that he couldn't lie to him. Zach was still eyeing him suspiciously. "Alright," he said finally, turning his attention back to the professor. Throwing one last annoyed glance at Rose, Scorpius did the same.

The professor hadn't even noticed Rose's mental absence during class. She had walked out of there, still deep in thought, but not pondering over Todd anymore, but about James. Evelyn _had _seemed inexplicably happy lately, could it be because of her trouble maker of a cousin?

"Rose!" Her thoughts were interrupted by Gemma Zeng's twittering voice. Rose turned and looked back at the HufflePuff girl running towards her. Gemma's parents were Korean, and she looked it. Big brown almond eyes, round pink lips and a small nose. Her hair was a curtain of long black, smooth hair, slipping over her shoulders like coal coloured water. "Hey," she breathed, exhausted after her short run. "Can I take your notes for this class? I- I wasn't paying attention." She grinned, and Rose saw that her front teeth were slightly crooked. Still, she was the bloody definition of _cute. _

With a horrified, small gasp, Rose glanced down at her books. She hadn't been paying attention either. Merlin's pants, what had she been _thinking? _She couldn't flunk now, she was a top student, and she'd forgotten to take important notes. She often allowed Gemma to take hers, but now, looking at the short girl before her, she couldn't admit that she had been in her own mind. Rose didn't understand why, but she couldn't bear to tell Gemma the truth. Couldn't bear the thought that she might tell her friends, and that it would spread. With a start she felt her cheeks burn, as the thought struck her; she just didn't want to lose her title as the brilliant student. Did it all really come down to her own status in the school? Ridiculous, really. For wanting to be known not caring what people thought, she cared an awful lot.

Rose gulped, ashamed of herself. "They're- They're actually not done yet, I'll get back to you later today?" It came out as a question. Gemma frowned, clearly befuddled over the matter. In a second, however, the frown disappeared and before she ran off, she curtly nodded with a smile. Rose almost wanted to say she was gullible, but her lie wasn't exactly an obvious lie.

Having stopped in the hallway to talk to Gemma, she found herself standing alone in the big hallway. It looked utterly beautiful, and she bashed herself for rarely stopping to think about the charm and artistry of the school. It smelled of old building and rock dust, of all the things Hogwarts consisted of. With a deep inhale of sudden contentment, what happened seconds ago forgotten - for now - Rose started walking towards the Great Hall.

She had found Albus by the Gryffindor table, and had seated herself next to him. Rose itched to ask him if he knew anything about Todd, but figured that maybe, Albus didn't know, maybe Todd didn't _want _him to know. Instead she told him about completely zoning out in class. He seemed shocked to say the least, raising a disbelieving brow at her. "Really?" he asked "That's a first." she gently elbowed him in the ribs, causing him to grin. Suddenly, Todd sat down next to Albus.

"Hey," he muttered, grabbing a chocolate muffin from Albus's plate. "Greetings, stranger," Albus scoffed, snatching the muffin back from Todd's hands. "Where were you this morning?" Instead of answering, Todd shrugged and bit into a bright red apple he'd taken from a plate at the table. Rose tried pinning him with a heavy gaze, but he wouldn't meet her eyes. She pursed her lips, her eyes narrowing at him. "What's up with you, Todd?" she asked, her voice suspicious. He glanced up at her, ice blue meeting sapphire blue, and quickly averted his eyes. "Nothing, Rose." he mumbled, fiddling with the stem on the apple, a feeble attempt to lie. They both knew that Rose was too smart - far too smart - to fall for it. But she didn't want to press him. He was one of her better friends, and was entitled to his own secrets, of course. Still, she couldn't help the bubbling curiosity inside her. She simply.. couldn't.

"Who is she?" Rose blurted out, and immediately regretted it. Todd's head whipped up in alarm, and Albus confusedly frowned at her. She could feel her face heating with shame. "I- I'm sorry, Todd." she managed "I didn't mean to- I didn't," panic filled her as the golden haired boy stared at her, his eyes wide. She saw now, how tired he looked, and how his eyes were glossy and red rimmed, like he was constantly on the verge of crying. The lines of stress were clear on his handsome face. It dawned on her that his reaction was far too panicked to be normal. He wouldn't act like this, no one would act like this; absolutely horrified, like it was the end of all life. Albus was the one who broke them out of the strange trance as he snorted, letting out a soft laugh. "It's none of your business, Rose. Lord, can't you give a man some privacy?" He patted Todd on the shoulder. And the tension shattered, and normality settled upon them again. Todd let out a shaky, nervous laugh and turned his full attention to the apple he was munching on. Rose gulped, snapping back to her normal self. She snorted, _"Man," _she teased, inclining that they were still just young boys. Albus pinched her cheek, an affectionate gesture, and Rose had never felt more happy to have such an easy going cousin and friend.

Later, walking away from the Great Hall, Todd caught up with her. She refused to meet his eyes, stubbornly looking at the ground. She still felt horrible for blurting out anything. Normally, it wouldn't be a big deal, but it was his reaction that made it all so much worse. He had looked so.. so _betrayed._

"Rose," he said, his voice gentle "Rose, I need to- I need to tell you-"

"You don't _need_ to tell me anything." she interrupted, stealing a glance at his sad face. He sighed and pushed his hands into his pocket, dolefully trudging along beside her.

"I really am sorry," she confessed, glancing at him. "Truly sorry."

"It's alright," he murmured "You shouldn't worry, though," he looked back at her, forcefully smiling. "I just got to figure some things out." She nodded, not quite sure how to respond. "You can, um, talk to me," she awkwardly prodded on, biting her lip.

"I don't- yeah," he said finally. The awkwardness of it all had Rose cringing, raking her brain for something to say. But nothing came, and the silence stretched between them. At least, it gave Rose time to think about him, Todd, and his peculiar behaviour. At last, they parted ways, uttering muttered goodbyes. She didn't know why, but walking the short walk to the Ravenclaw common room, Rose grew more and more miserable.

She laid face up in her bed, staring at the midnight blue ceiling. It was spotted with golden stars, each one glinting in the dark. She was so tired, and frustrated. Rose had been, what, two weeks at Hogwarts? And already, her head was hurting with stress from school work, from stress over what was going on with Todd, and even a nagging voice stressing her over James and Evelyn. It was clear; she needed a release. But she couldn't think of any that would make her feel better, at least, not any that would be suitable for right now..

With an exasperated sigh, she massaged her scalp, it was aching from the tight bun her hair had been gathered in all day.

If not a release, a distraction, then.

She already knew her favourite sort of distraction.

Reading.

Rose didn't bother to fix her hair, she simply hopped out of bed and threw on a navy cardigan over her white button up, the Ravenclaw eagle embroidered in bronze over the left side of her chest. She smoothed out the grey shirt over her hips and walked out of her shared dorm, the navy white striped tie hung proudly around her neck.

"Where're you going?" Alice asked on her way out, she was reading a book by the fire.

"The library," Rose muttered back, glancing at her. The other girl nodded, clearly not interested in accompanying her. Rose silently scurried to the library, which was on the third floor, and was cheerfully greeted by Madam Pince, who'd gotten quite accustomed to her frequent visits. While inside, she walked as fast as her legs could, eager to get her distraction. She stopped by the section of books about The Dark Arts, looking at all of the spines in awe. She was thoroughly _fascinated _by them, by the dark magic they told her about, by all the forbidden things. She quickly found the book she was looking for; _The Dark Arts: A trivial guide. _

She quickly pulled it out from its shelf. Giddily holding the book in her hands, she looked at the old book. It was brown, and splintered, thick as her forearm and with yellowing, old smelling pages. She marvelled at how it looked, and though many would've thought it was either cool or disgusting, the only word Rose could fathom to use was _beautiful. _For it was, to her it truly was a beautiful object that had aged so finely it kept the smell of old age between its pages. She brought the book up to her nose and smelled it, closing her eyes, almost dazedly smiling. She loved it.

Being too caught up with her peculiar actions, she hadn't even heard the creaking footsteps behind her, and in all her haste to start reading, she turned with such force she knocked the persons books to the floor. She let out a shocked cry of surprise and the other person grunted as he, too, stumbled and fell. "I'm so _sorry!" _Rose quaked, embarrassed, she started behind down to help. The boy sprawled on the floor looked up then, glowering, and she froze.

The greyest eyes there was were pinning in place her with a furious glare.

"You know," he started, his voice low and annoyed. "I was just going to ignore you smelling that book, cause' I didn't want you to smell _me,"_ he got to his feet. "And what do I get for being a decent person? A shove that sends my books flying." He dusted off his black pants and rose to his full height, looming over her. "I didn't _smell _the book.." she feebly argued.

"Of course not, you were just pressing you snotty nose at it. Marking territory?" Rose's hands flew up to her nose, covering it, beginning to defensively argue that her nose was not snotty. In the last minute, however, she slammed her mouth shut and took a moment to recollect herself. She closed her eyes, exhaled, and looked up. He was enjoying this, his mouth bitterly pursed but his eyes glinting with amusement.

"Goodbye, Scorpius." She said curtly, sidestepping him.

"Don't I get any help with this?" he protested, gesturing to the books scattered on the floor, pestering her until the very end as always.

"I think not. Wouldn't want my snot all over them, would we?" She glanced back just to see his reaction. For a second his face went slack, dumbfounded by his insult backfiring. Then he wrinkled his nose in disgust, but his eyes were bright with amusement still. "Charming," he said, and if he hadn't been Scorpius, if it had been any other boy, it would've sounded almost flirtatious. Rose rolled her eyes and turned on her heel, and threw a quick glance at him as she rounded a corner. He was partially kneeling, one knee on the floor and the other pointing up, for he had his foot on the murky wooden floor instead. She let her eyes wander his profile, the straight nose, the long lashes - dark in spite of his light hair - and lastly his thin pink lips, the bottom one now bitten down on by his front teeth. She was so mesmerized by him she didn't see ahead of her, didn't see the floating stack of books, didn't react until they'd toppled over and crashed into a desk near her, crushing two lanterns, causing some of the books to catch on fire from the small fires. Rose let out a strangled gasp, then a small shriek as she saw the pages of the books curling and darkening from the heat. And then she felt warm hands on her waist, pulling her back, and someone saying her name. Scorpius.

He shoved her back, gently, and expertly pulled out his wand. Chanting spells she didn't know, the flames died down, even though they hadn't really gotten the time to grow. And then Madam Pince was there, and she looked at the scene before her, wide eyed, and pointed at Scorpuis with her index finger in such away you'd think she expected a spell to come out of it. A death spell.

"Malfoy!" she shrieked, breathing hard with rage. "What made you think this utter _stupidity _would-"

"Me?" Scorpius shot back, pointing to himself. Madam Pince curled back her lips, as though baring her fangs. "Who else, Mr. Malfoy?"

"I.." he traced off, glaring at the librarian. Was he really not going to out her? Was he really going to take the fall for _her? _The thought made Rose's heart swell, and she got the urge to throw her arms around him. Only she couldn't let him get in trouble on her behalf, not after voluntarily doing so.

"Me," Rose said then, loud and clear. Both their heads turned to stare at her.

"I did it, Madam Pince. I wasn't looking where I was going, and.." she looked shyly at Scorpius, remembering the very reason she was so distracted.

"I did it." She repeated. She felt her cheeks burn as the old woman gaped at her.

"Unbelievable!" Madam Pince shrieked then, the volume causing Rose to flinch. "Detention, for the both of you!" Scorpius mouth fell open with shock. "I will not have this insolence go unpunished," she snarled. "Saturday evening. You shall sort the _all _the headmasters of Hogwarts by alphabetical order!" And without another word she turned and briskly walked away. There was an unbearable silence, until Rose muttered; "Wouldn't it be more efficient to sort them by date?"

Scorpius groaned and clenched his fist. "Thanks a lot, Rose," he snarled. Then he left her, too, and Rose was left with scattered books and broken lanterns and the feeling of that everything was wrong.

"Ohh.. Troublemaker," a voice cooed from above her. She looked up and caught a glimpse of a swirling white silhouette. She knew very well who it was, and she was _not _in the mood for him. Frustrated, she angrily chucked a book at Peeves, who easily dodged it and flew out of the library, manically laughing. Rose sighed, and hurriedly cleaned the mess up before making her way back to the dorms, leaving the book she came for behind.

A full hour had gone before she felt hungry. Pleading Alice to come with her, they snuck down to the kitchens to get something to eat. Rose's parents had taught her to always be kind to house elves, so she was, and they loved her. Every time she came to the kitchen they shouted in glee and showered her with foods of all sorts. Alice happily munched into the things they gave them. Muffins, crumpets, grapes, lollipops, apples, strawberries, everything she loved.

"Miss Rose! Here, try this!" or "I made this myself! How do you like it?" they would shout. She would laugh, and eat, until she couldn't get another bite down. Penny, one elf, was always particularly nice to her. She had blonde hair and bright green eyes, a nasal voice and huge bat like ears. Penny smacked another elf in the head and snatched the golden muffin from its grip. "That one is for Miss Rose! Shame!" she yelled, and handed the muffin to Rose. "Lemon muffin, very tasty." Penny said excitedly, and it was indeed. "This is delicious, Penny!" Rose beamed, causing the elf to blush. "Thank you very much." She said, clearly flustered. Rose gently squeezed her small, bony hand.

"We need to get going," Alice said then, standing up, thanking the elves, smiling, "Thanks, for the food."

"Yes, I suppose we should leave," Rose said, her heart breaking a little at the disappointed looks on their faces. "We'll be back, though." She assured them and they eagerly nodded. After a few more goodbyes and thanks, the two girls left. The whole day, Rose had felt so hopelessly frustrated, so it was actually nice to hear Alice's constant blabbering. After only a few steps, though, they were interrupted by a twittering laughter.

It was Gemma's, and Rose suddenly remembered her forgotten notes. She didn't know why she reacted so panicked, or why she even cared, but with a hissed "Oh, _shit!" _She pulled Alice behind the wall, hushing her. "Did," Alice started "Did you just cuss?" she was laughing at her. Rose pressed her hand to the other girl's mouth. Alice swatted it away.

"Ew, I don't want your clammy hand over these gorgeous lips." She pouted, looking like a duck, and Rose was about to crack up.

Then, she heard voices, and she silenced down. Gemma was accompanied with one of her friends, they were giggling together, like two love struck idiots. "Who're we hiding from?" Alice whispered and tried to sneak a peek at the two girls. They were walking towards their common room.

Damn it. Rose had forgotten about the Hufflepuff common room location. "Shut _up," _Rose hissed, a bit too loud, and the girls fell silent. After a minute, Gemma called out: "Hello?"

Rose sighed, and knew she had to give up. Stepping out in the light before them, she sheepishly smiled. "Sorry. I-" she yanked Alice out from her hiding place. "_We _needed somewhere private to talk." Alice nodded, immediately catching on her lie. "You know, there are prying ears everywhere. We figured no one would visit the kitchens anytime soon, totally forgot about your common room." She sounded sincere enough, and the girls warily nodded, glancing at each other.

"Ah, Rose," Gemma said suddenly, stepping forward. "Your notes? Sorry if I'm being a pain, I-"

"Not at all," Rose interrupted, trying to come up with a valid excuse. "Let- Let me just get them!" And with that she grabbed Alice by the wrist and sprinted out of there, away from Gemma and her honest eyes. It must've been hormones, and her brain not working correctly. No sane person would _actually _freak out so much about this. But she had always been a covertly prideful person. Admitting to not being the brilliant student would definitely wound her pride. "Hold it," Alice said suddenly, stopping. Rose stopped as well, turning to her. They were both out of breath. "Okay, _what _was that?"

"Nothing," Rose answered, too quickly. Alice arched a brow.

_"Nothing." _She assured her again. "Really, I just have to do some things, I'll see you later?"

"I thought you were going to get your notes?"

Rose internally groaned "I'll explain later. It's not a big deal, I swear." After a seconds hesitation, she nodded, turning and walking away. Rose stood still for a second, trying to figure out what to do. She _really _needed those notes, and she just couldn't tell Gemma she didn't have them. Honestly, she didn't understand herself. It's not like her not taking notes would be the hottest school gossip, no way. Still, she couldn't bring herself to do it. Was _she _going to copy notes from someone? Who? No one ever wrote their notes like she did. She wrote everything, while the others scribbled down small things or nothing at all. No one measured to her brilliance. She immediately felt embarrassed by that thought, thanking every god there was that mindreading was not something people could do. For it was true. No one could give her all the information she needed.

Although, there was one person..

_No! _A voice in her head screamed, bashing her. But who else was there? No one. But would she be able to handle the judgement in his eyes?

_Those unnerving grey eyes._

Sighing, she made her decision.

Scorpius was sitting in his dorm, reading _Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them_. A knock on the door caused him to look up. "Come in," he muttered, slightly annoyed to be disturbed. The door opened to reveal a small, blonde girl. Anna_, _he recalled. She was cute for sure, big brown eyes and long curls of ice blonde hair. He shut the book, putting it down. "What's up?" He asked, grinning, crossing his legs on the bed. She smiled back shyly, causing his grin to grow wider. "Someone's looking for you," She said, her voice small, as though she was a bit frightened.

"Rose Weasley."

Scorpius ignored the jolt in his chest at the sound of her name, and why she was looking for _him. _"What?" Was all that came out, and it sounded rather rude. Anna shrugged "She's outside."

He was careful not to seem too eager to get out, even though he wanted to run. Not because he wanted to see Rose - well, maybe he did a little - but because he was eminently intrigued to why she made an effort and sought him out at this late hour. He opened the door to the common room, revealing her, looking small in the big hall.

"Scorpius," she breathed, and he reluctantly acknowledged the shiver her felt at her saying his name like that. Then he remembered the library incident, and put on a sour face, that was actually genuine.

"I do recall Madam Pince said Saturday evening," he paused "Why are you bothering me already? It's only Tuesday."

She glowered at him, and he felt the urge to laugh. He pushed the laughter down to his gut, and instead he coolly eyed her, his arms crossed over his chest. When she didn't say anything, he questioningly raised his shoulders. He desperately wanted to know why she was here.

"I.." She started, the stopped. Biting her lip, she started again. "I need to copy your notes." Scorpius felt a stupid twinge of disappointment.

"Oh? Is that so"

"Nice rhyme."

"Thank you very much."

She groaned and out her face in her hands, and he suspected she was blushing. He had become very good at pushing away the blood rushing to his face, to conceal it at least, and so he did now. "This is embarrassing as it is, Scorpius," she said, looking up, her pale face still flushed.

"But I do need your notes." He arched a brow, something he had perfected at age five.

"And when did we become B.F.F's who exchange notes?" He was aware of the fact that me made it sound like passing notes in class, and that she was growing more frustrated by the second.

"Please," she said after a moment, and she looked noticeably tired. "_Please, _can I copy your notes?" He didn't understand. Didn't understand why he suddenly would give her all of his notes, why she had chosen to ask him out of all her friends, why he stood straighter, as though being the aid to a distressed damsel. Only Rose wasn't a distressed damsel, locked in a tower and guarded by a dragon. Hell, she'd slay the dragon herself and renovate the castle to an orphanage. Still, her took on the Knight in shining armor role in this situation. Normally, he would've made some snarky remark and given her the notes in excessive reluctance. But looking at her, he couldn't help it when the words tumbled off his tongue.

"Of course."


	4. Lavender Powder

"Of course."

Rose awkwardly fidgeted with her tie. His response, the gentleness in his voice, had flustered her in a way she didn't know was possible.

"So.." she said, glancing up. He let out a small huff of air, stood up straighter, as though gathering himself. "I'll go get them, wait here."

Rose nodded, looking down again. It was embarrassing enough to come and ask him, she didn't understand why she found it so impeccably awkward that he agreed to give them to her. He had looked so collected, coolly eyeing her one second, and then his whole face had softened the next. It made something in her stomach twist, in a good way. Rose studied the great wooden doors before her. It was dark brown, elegant, with a coiling serpent carved in its wood. The shape of the door was rather round, and in the soft light from the lights in the hall it looked inviting. The door flew open and Scorpius strode out again, a notepad clutched his hand.

He stood before her, glancing down at it. For a brief second his face flushed, almost too quickly for her to notice. But she did. He scratched his head, looking troubled.

"I- I don't know if you can read it.." He extended the notepad to her, his long pale fingers almost all of it. She'd never seen him like this; stuttering, all the cockiness wiped off his face. Rose took it gratefully. Just before he let go to of it, she extended her hand to gently grab his wrist, daring to look up at him. His usually so cool eyes were warm and welcoming, the yellow shine from the candles almost turning them a light amber. Her mouth parted slightly, for the sight of him like this, up close and alone sent a surge of heat through her body. His high cheekbones and the straight pointy nose and the thin lips were incredibly endearing and she just wanted to touch him, feel his hot skin under her own. She gulped, feeling her heartbeat speed up as she noticed the small distance between their faces.

It's how you would react with any boy, a voice in her head reassured her, and she immediately felt less guilty. It was true. She didn't have much experience with boys, so standing this close to an annoyingly cute one messed with her mind. With her small hand wrapped around his wrist - their complexions mixing, Rose's more creamy pale while Scorpius was all white porcelain - she could feel his racing pulse, and she wondered if it was because of her it was going with such speed.

"Thank you," she said, finally, and quickly let go of him. Scorpius swallowed hard as he took a step back. Instead of answering, he nodded, and she couldn't endure more of the silence stretching between them, so she turned on her heel and started walking. She practically felt his eyes on her.

What had just happened?

She didn't know, didn't understand. Although she didn't know if she wanted to, either. What she couldn't bear was how they might act around each other the next day. Awkward? Silent? They couldn't part like this. Things needed to go back to normal, whatever had passed between them tonight had to be forgotten. Or, whatever had passed through Rose, more like it. She couldn't be sure if he'd felt it, too. She stopped in her tracks, turning round to face him. He hadn't moved an inch.

"Do not speak of this to anyone," she warned, managing to get her tone sharp, as usual. His face lit up in a devilish grin. "Oh, I'll speak of this to everyone-"

"Scorpius!"

He chuckled deeply. "Go to bed, you dweeb." He answered.

"Go to hell, you arse." She shot back. She parted with him, a triumphant smile on her lips. But not before she heard him mutter: "Where's the gratitude, Rose?"

She went to sleep still smiling.

* * *

The next day, first thing she did was find Gemma and give her Scorpius notes. She'd written them again by herself and brilliantly smiled as she handed them over. Gemma thanked her with great gratitude. It was strange, that something she'd stressed so much over was over in a second.

After her first couple of classes she found James in the Great Hall. She sat down next to him, and frowned. He looked distressed, anxious for something she did not know.

"What's wrong?" She asked gently. He turned his head, startled, as though he hadn't seen her sit down.

"Evelyn," he mumbled, throwing a quick glance back at the girl he fancied. "I think I'm going to ask her out today."

Rose beamed, and excitedly clapped her hands. "James, that's wonderful!" she cheered.

"What if she says no?"

"She won't."

"You don't know that!" He glared at her. She rolled her eyes.

"I'm quite sure. I'm super smart, remember?" she grinned. "I'd date you, if I hadn't been repulsed by, and related, to you."

He dismissively shook his head. "Gross."

Rose gently elbowed him in the ribs, still grinning. She was in a good mood today. Could it be because of Scorpius? That would be a first.

"Rose!" Someone yelled. She turned her head, smiling wider as she saw her little brother making his way to her. Hugo had their mothers brown, curly hair, and her deep chocolate eyes. She envied him those features. Rose had often heard that she was a redheaded copy of her mother Hermione. Hugo looked more like their father in facial features. The only thing they really shared were freckles.

He was accompanied by his girlfriend, Hannah Boyle. A half Brazilian half Indian girl with a tall slender body and long sleek black hair. With the full pink lips and the eyes - so light brown they looked like liquid gold- she was easily one of the prettiest girls in her year. Her hand was clutched in his, and she was looking at him with such adoration Rose didn't know whether to throw up or "aww" at them. Hugo was one year younger than Rose, in grade five, fifteen years old, and he was just beginning to experience his blossoming love for Hannah. They sat down across the table. With them were their other cousin siblings, Fred and Roxanne. They both had red, curly, african textured hair, their skin was olive and freckled. Since they were mixed, both of their white and african genes shone through and gave the two of them unique and, frankly, gorgeous looks. Roxanne sat down next to Rose, smiled at her, and started gathering food on her plate. All of them were Gryffindors, except for Hannah, who was a Ravenclaw like she.

Roxanne stopped mid motion, frowning. "I was gunna tell you something," She muttered. She was silent for a couple of seconds, and Rose amusedly watched as her cousin was deep in thought.

"Oh, right!" Roxanne turned fully to Rose "We have a new Professor, and" She said paused, her eyes alight with excitement. She was the same age as Rose, and Fred was one year older. She was her funniest friend, the inappropriate one who said things out loud that weren't supposed to be said.

"He has a son," Roxanne continued. She wiggled her eyebrows suggestively, causing Rose to laugh.

"Uh, okay?" Rose said, not quite undertanding.

"And I've heard he's cute."

_"Oh,"_

They nodded in silent understatement at each other, small smiles on their lips.

"He's said to look like an Arabic prince," Hannah sighed dreamily from across them. Hugo noticeably narrowed his eyes in annoyance at her comment. Rose's eyes, however, lit up. Both Roxanne and herself were leaning over the table to listen more closely. It was fun to gossip about boys and girly things once in a while, forgetting about schoolwork.

"Go on," Roxanne prodded. Hannah smiled, obviously happy to feel included.

"Okay, so, his name is John Shoonks and he's going to start sixth year. Apparently he's gorgeous, and his father, our potions Professor, is supposed to be really easy going."

Potions? That was Rose's next subject. She felt bubbling excitement fill her body.

"Oh, great!" She squealed, clapping her hands.

"What happened to Professor Slughorn?" Roxanne asked.

"He quit. Too old," said Hannah.

Rose gave her a puzzled look. "How do you even know all of this?"

Hannah shrugged, laughing, "Well, if there's a new boy coming to school, you got to do your research-"

"To introduce him to your boyfriend, right?" Hugo interrupted, snaking a possessive arm around her waist, pulling her closer. His voice was light, but the serious undertone was clear. Rose glared at him. It wasn't the first time she'd seen this part of Hugo; the overly jealous part. When they'd been little, and she'd given her attention to another boy his age, he'd get awfully jealous. He didn't even seem to notice her glare, he was staring at Hannah, his eyes uneasy. She just laughed. Her laughter brought a small insecure smile to her brothers lips.

"Of course." She assured him. She pressed a light kiss to his cheek before casually leaning her head on his shoulder. They had been going steady for about half a year, so their PDA didn't really bother anyone anymore. Her words brought Rose back to her odd encounter with Scorpius last night. It spread a strange heat through her.

"There's children here" Fred teased, poking Hannah's cheek. They'd been best friends for years. It was through him Hugo and Hannah had gotten to meet.

"Oh wait, I meant _smaller_ children, because you are_ still_ toddlers." He continued.

Everyone laughed, and Hugo shucked a chocolate cookie in Fred's face. This caused Hugo to get slapped in the back of his head with a harsh (but joking) "Be quiet, little wanker." from Fred. Rose looked over to James, wanting to see if he had joined in the laughter, only to find he was gone. Glancing back, she saw that Evelyn was nowhere to be seen, either.

Rose had scurried into class, expectantly looking for the new Professor and sitting down next to Gregory Drowt, a sweet Chinese boy who always smiled at her.

And there he was, the new Professor. A plump yet tall man with black curly hair and olive skin. He had a big nose, a greying moustache and kind brown eyes. The way he smiled, as though he cared deeply for each and every one of them, made Rose immediately like him. When they were all sat down, he spoke, loudly.

"Welcome, pupils," He greeted, his voice smooth and deep and bellowing. "I'm Professor Shoonks. I had to move here urgently, and I apologize for coming when the term's already started." The students before him sat in silence and listened, judging his every move. He quickly sighed, like he was pleased with what he'd said.

"As you know, I will be your teacher in potions since your old Professor, Slughorn, had to urgently retire," the man said the last part bitterly, as though he had some personal issue with Slughorn.

"Today, we will do some primary potions, so I can see which levels you are on."

Rose breathed out. She'd gotten the highest score on those basic potions, no doubt this class would be easy.

"You will be working in pairs, so I can see how well you work together," He happily looked at each of them, the bitterness completely wiped off his face and voice. Rose grew uneasy at his words. Albus was god-knows-where, and she didn't do well working in pairs at all.

"You'll be paired with students whose grades are on the same level as your own, otherwise it wouldn't be fair. Correct?" He didn't wait for answers. He turned around, fumbling with papers on his desk behind him. And suddenly her mind screamed like a Howeler. For she knew whose grades matched her own. Only one person in the whole class. One obnoxius boy she could not stand. There was a single, simple word that could fathom what she felt in that moment; _fuck._

She threw a quick glance at the pale boy across the room. He, too, was staring with horror at the Professor.

"Alright, then," Professor Shoonks cleared his throat. He started calling out names, directing the students to where they were supposed to sit. It wasn't long until she heard her own, paired with his. "Rose Weasley and Scorpius Malfoy."

Someone sniggered behind her. She didn't bother to look back and see who. She just angrily pursed her lips and waited for instructions.

"Rose, you can just move over to his Scorpius's," he gestured towards the boy. Abashedly, Rose grabbed her bag and trudged over to Scorpius. When she was seated, she stared straight ahead, a bored expression on her face. She heard him sigh beside her. "Alright, I don't want to ruin my grade, so stop acting like I'm a pile of stinking crap and work with me." His tone was decisive. Commanding and deep. She realized she liked it.

_No,_ the sane part of her roared, _you hate being bossed around._

That was true.

She turned her face to him, trying not to stare too deeply into his eyes. She knew she would get distracted if she did. Rose squinted loathingly at him, "A thank you would be appreciated." she snarled. Scorpius rolled his eyes at her. She looked at her paper about which spell they had gotten assigned to. She smiled. _Sleeping Draught_ was a quite simple potion if you knew what you were doing, so Rose was sure it was going to go splendidly.

"So, how should we do this?" Scorpius asked.

"I'll get the ingredients, you can get the equipment."

He nodded, evidently pleased, and they both left the table. Rose almost knew the ingredients by memory. Every word in the book she could recall. She went over it in her mind; The Sleeping Draught is a potion that causes the drinker to fall almost instantaneously into a deep but temporary sleep. A standard Sleeping Draught differed from the _Draught of Living Dead,_ which is much more powerful, lasting, and difficult to make.

The potions was simple but powerful.

Rose stood in front of the wooden table Professor Shoonks had set up with all they needed. She took a bit mixed herbs (standard ingredient), some Lavender, Flobberworm, Mucus, and finally some Valerian sprigs. With her hands full she walked back to the table where she saw, with great delight, that a cauldron, some knives, measure equipment, a cutting board, and a mortar had been set up neatly on their dark wooden table. Rose put down the ingredients on the table, nervously, as she felt him watching her.

"Okay, so.." Rose chewed at the inside of her cheek, thinking. "How about you start counting sprigs of Lavender and I'll start to crush the Standards?" She looked at him, waiting for an answer to the simple question. He stared back, his eyes wide. Scorpius seemed a bit taken aback by her. Rose groaned "Come on," she whined, gesturing wildly between him and the Lavender. It was as though he had been woken up from a tance, for he immediately started counting and cutting with such haste Rose hurried to sit and get started as well.

They worked in silence, but they did it well, and Rose was surprised by how well it was going. When she put in something, he helped in one way or another, and so they did to each other. They wrote noted, and copied each other when one of them hadn't written. It was almost like they were friends. Almost.

That was, until she looked down at their first mix, already puttering silently in the cauldron. "Scorpius," She spoke slowly, causing him to look up. To Rose, the potion didn't look quite right, not purple enough. Not enough Lavender. "How much Lavender did you put in?" She asked, frowning at their potion.

"Four sprigs?" Scorpius answered, frowning at her instead.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. I'm sure, Rose, why?" He sounded like he was tired of her acting like a child. It infuriated her that he did not take her seriously. She pointed at the cauldron, as if he wasn't already looking at it.

"That does not look right,"

"Does anything _ever_ look right to you?"

His tone was hostile, and taunting, and everything she hated. Rose whipped her head to the side, glaring at him, her eyes alight with rage now. He wasn't listening to her.

"I'm being serious, you idiot, something's wrong with the potion."

"I put in the correct amount of Lavender," He shot back, his tone hinting that the discussion should stop there. Of course, it wouldn't.

"I don't think you did," she muttered, getting an icy glare from him. Suddenly, she wanted to annoy him. "So I'm going to put in some more." She grabbed the crushed Lavender in the mortar and was going to throw it in, when Scorpius quickly grabbed her wrist. Her sleeves were pulled up, so his slender fingers wrapped her bare skin, and the sudden heat from his touch surprised her. It spread through her whole body in a pleasant way, knotting something in her stomach, making her pulse bolt under her pale skin. He must've noticed it. Rose's face flushed with sheepish embarrassment. He didn't grab her roughly, just a light grab of her arm to stop her from doing a mistake.

And then she still felt another sort of heat rise within her; anger. She felt offended, and humiliated. Offended, because apparently he thought she couldn't understand words and needed to take physical action to stop her. Humiliated, for she knew that doing what she had almost done could ruin everything, but in her act of bursting confidence to defy him she had forgotten that.

Rose scowled at him, furious. _"Let go,"_ she commanded, her tone cold.

"Only if you let go of the Lavender,"

Rose gritted her teeth, setting her jaw. She met his eyes, hoping they were shooting daggers. "Let go of my arm, Scorpius, or I'll-"

"You can't do _shit,_ Weasley, so stop acting like a child and- Bah!"

Rose couldn't control herself. With him calling her a child, and saying she could do nothing, an irrational urge to throw something at him overcame her. She felt the heat race from her chest out to her fingertips, making her free hand reach out to grab the remaining crushed Lavender, grabbing a fistful of it. It was as though she'd lost control of his body when she flung it in his face, making him gasp and cough and bellow like an animal. She stared in shock at him, at her hand, and what she'd done. With a bitter, sinking feeling she realized that throwing something in his face was probably the most childish thing she could have done.

"Are- are you _fucking insane?"_ He yelled, standing up and shaking his head, making purple powder fall to the floor, staining her black shoes with flecks of lilac. Though she was ashamed of her actions, she would not surrender to him now. Not now, when the whole class had gone silent and were anxiously staring at the two of them.

"Bloody hell, you should be put in St. Mungos!" He had stopped trying to fix himself, to shake the purple dust off him. He was staring at her, one fist clenched and the other tightly wound around his wand, not threatening her, but used as his own calming device. His jaw was set and sharp.

"If you hadn't been acting like such a despicable arse then maybe this wouldn't have happened!" She screamed back. She was balling the hem of her skirt with her fist, so tightly her knuckles had gone white.

What happened next was probably not intended, but it happened nonetheless. Somehow, without saying a spell out loud, Scorpius managed to get a crystal hanging on the crystal chandelier at the front of the classroom to unscrew and shoot towards them. It soared with impossible speed through open air, it felt like time was slowing all all there was in the world was that small crystal, beautifully flying. There was a silence in the room, until hit their cauldron. The crystal wasn't big, but big enough to send their potion filled cauldron flying; to send it's contents flying. The small, black cauldron swiveled in the air for a short second, spewing out its purple contents. Rose already knew what was going to happen. She stood too close, much too close, and too perfectly in place. She closed her eyes, bracing herself.

The lilac, slimy, and thick potion got splattered all over her. Over her hair, over her white button up shirt and grey skirt. She looked like the canvas of a very passionate painter.

Another long moment of silence passed. Scorpius looked horrified, staring at her, at what he had done without meaning to, and swallowed hard. His mouth kept opening and closing, like he was trying to apologize but didn't know how.

Rose stood, eyes wide, arms up, mouth agape. The potion wasn't hot, it wasn't hurting her, but Merlin the humiliation of it all. She felt like crying. She felt like striking Scorpius in the gut. Worst of all, she felt like a massive failure.

Everything else was a blur. Professor Shoonks came through the door after having left to get more potions books. He'd been met by the ludicrous sight and asked what has happened. The other students had started screaming their names, calling out accusations, telling both true and untrue facts about what went down. Rose didn't care, she just stood there in a dazed sort of silence with Scorpius.

* * *

Ten minutes later they were directed to the Headmaster's Room, dismissed from all their other classes to sit in shame under the heavy and judging glare of Headmaster and Professor McGonagall. Rose wanted to shrink in the big seat, wanted to disappear. She awkwardly fidgeted with her fingers, occasionally glancing with menace at Scorpius, who was sat in the chair next to her. He never looked back though, he kept staring at his feet.

It annoyed Rose to her very core that he made the Lavender dust look good. His hair was sticking up in spikes, the result of him running his hands through it. A sign of stress, or distress.

The lilac powder tinted the tops of his pale blond hair, mixing the colours, making it look stylish and intended. Some of it was still on his face, despite his efforts to brush it of. Light, small flecks of purple traced his cheekbones, his chin, his nose, making it look like odd freckles. Some of it rested on his dark eyelashes, falling down on his cheeks when he blinked. Rose turned away, squinting angrily down at her purple colored hands and knees.

"This is unacceptable," McGonagall boomed. "Two of the best students in the school, top of their grade, simply can't get along, simply cannot put your sharp minds together to cooperate?" She was glaring harshly, now, making both of them wanting to shrink in their seats.

"You are acting like children!" Both of them flinched at the new, higher volume of her voice. She sighed deeply, shaking her head. She seemed so tired, as she she pinched her cheekbone and closed her eyes.

"You chose a bad timing for this, I am terribly busy," She scribbled something down on an old paper with her quill. "Your punishment is detention with Professor Shoonks, for two Saturdays, starting this week."

Rose gulped, wanting to speak up about their detention for the library incident. Scorpius was faster.

"We've already got detention this week," He muttered, not looking up.

"Sorry?" McGonagall asked sharply.

When he didn't answer, Rose cleared her throat "We've already got detention this week," she said numbly, staring evenly at the Professor. McGonagall mumbled something under her breath, staring wide eyed at the two of them. Something flickered in her eyes when she looked from Rose to Scorpius. Like a memory being lit at the back of her mind. She wondered if it had something to do with their parents. She knew very well that both her mother and her father disliked the Malfoys with a passion. Well, maybe her dad was a little bit more passionate. Rose had, however, promised herself not to give prejudices about something he had no control of. Especially after the whole muggleborn discrimination business her parents had had to suffer through.

No, she hadn't started loathing him because of that. The loathing had actually come naturally after she'd gotten to know him.

"Very well," McGonagall said, though it was clearly not. "The two Saturdays after that, then." Rose and Scorpius walked out of the Headmaster's Room, heads hanging low, miserable about their weekends being ruined completely.

Rose was bitter beyond compare. _Well, this is just glorious,_ she thought sourly to herself, twisting her face into an angry grimace. T_hree weekends in a row with Scorpius Malfoy, my sworn nemesis, the biggest arse on earth._

* * *

It seemed like he parted ways with him as quickly as she could, her fast steps echoing in the empty halls.

She didn't notice Scorpius reaching for her, didn't notice him staring at her small body leaving him, didn't notice the guilt in his eyes as he turned with a sigh and walked back to the Slytherin common room. It felt like his heart was being clenched by an iron fist, though he didn't know why. Exasperated, he rolled his eyes at his own ignorance. Of course he knew why he felt that way, of course he knew why he hated when she was angry with him, and of course he knew why every time she was near him his heart sped up and his face unavoidably flushed and he had a hard time catching his breath.

He always pushed the thought away as quickly as it entered his head, ignoring it, refusing to acknowledge the feelings. It had started last year, all of it had. The dreams, when her soft skin was warm under his fingertips and her lips were delicate against his own, the way he couldn't focus when he looked at her, her eyes luminously blue, ablaze with emotion, the way he wanted to sometimes gather her in his arms and hold her close, kiss her face, and ward of any other male that dared show interest. He felt a possessive knot of anger twist in his gut, thinking of all the times he had caught some insignificant boy stare at her during class. It was nearly impossible to shut those feelings out, but he did an admirable job doing so. He thought they would go away after the summer, thought it was his raging teen boy hormones. But they wouldn't disappear, and he feared they wouldn't in a long time.

If someone could look into his mind, they would easily say that Scorpius Malfoy had strong - and very quickly growing - feelings for Rose Weasley.


End file.
